"In 1887, a peasant woman stumbled across a 3,000-year-old trove of cuneiform tablets in the ruins at Amarna, in Upper Egypt. The find, mostly letters from foreign kings to the Egyptian court, was part of the palace archive of the mysterious, sun-worshipping Pharaoh Akhenaten. The documents tell an unsuspected tale of intensive diplomatic contacts among the great powers of the time - Egypt, Mittani, Babylonia, Hatti, Assyria, and numerous other independent and vassal states - shedding light on the very origins of international relations. They also reveal treachery and intrigue among the petty kings of Canaan and provide insight into the foundations of biblical Israel." "In William T. Moran's definitive English translation, The Amarna Letters, published by Johns Hopkins in 1992, the texts seem to raise as many questions as they answer. How did Pharaoh run his empire? Why did the god-king consent to deal with his fellow mortal monarchs as equals? Indeed, why did kings engage in diplomacy at all? How did the great powers maintain international peace and order?" "Raymond Cohen and Raymond Westbrook have brought together a team of specialists, both social scientists and ancient historians, to explore the world of ancient Near Eastern statecraft portrayed in the letters. This book will be of interest to scholars not only of the ancient Near East and the Bible but also of international relations and diplomatic studies."--Jacket.